The Price of Living
by Alastor
Summary: Three years following the Death of Kuja, Peace is everywhere, But will it last?


"You dont need a reason to help people."  
  
  
  
"...Farewell, Zidane..."  
  
"Ah, dammit..."  
  
~  
  
Zidane neared the ledge infront of him, after the Hilda Garde 3 flew off. The Lifa tree began its terrible reaction to Necron's defeat, The roots crashing up and retracting in on itself. Zidane raised his arms.  
  
"Kuja! Can you hear me!? I'm coming to get you!" Zidane yelled out towards the Lifa tree.  
  
"You still have time...Forget about me and go."  
  
Zidane shook his head irritably and gritting, as he stretched his back.  
  
"Just shut up, and stay where you are!" Zidane yelled back at the voice of Kuja, crouching.  
  
"...I don't understand you."  
  
~  
  
"......? U...Ugh..." Zidane hopped to his feet, after his plummet into the core of the Lifa tree. He shook his head, whiping the dust from his clothes. He looked around smirked.  
  
"Phew...Still alive...I guess that was pretty crazy." Zidane turned and looked up, at the vines that lead to where he had saw Kuja laying during his plummet. He jumps up and climbs the vines, Reaching the top, he flips over onto the platform-like Structure, He looks upon Kuja, laying on a grassy spot, light shining down from some hole at the top of the tree. Zidane jumped over to the grassy spot, looking down at Kuja.  
  
"Hey! Are you allright?" Zidane called to Kuja. Kuja turned his head over slowly to look at Zidane, his eyes hazy.  
  
"Zidane...? What are you doing here? I thought I told you to go..." Kuja said, weakly, appearing to take some energy to say. Zidane smirked, sitting down.  
  
"Would'nt you do the same for me if you knew I was dying?" Kuja lowered his head, his eyes looking to the ground.  
  
  
  
"...."  
  
Zidane shakes his head, snickering.  
  
"......Never mind." Kuja looked back up, his arms laying lifeless at his sides.  
  
"Uour comrades were able to escape?" He asked. Zidane nodded, looking back over at Kuja.  
  
"Yeah...I knew you had something to do with it."  
  
"I'm glad they made it" Zidane smiled slightly, turning his back around, looking at the walls of the Lifa tree.  
  
"Yeah, well...It's our turn to get movin'." Kuja chuckled softly, causing Zidane to turn to look at him, confused now.  
  
"What so funny?" Zidane asked, confused. Kuja looked up at Zidane, then back down at the ground, somewhat sorrowfull.  
  
"Still the optomist...I dont deserve to live after all that I've done. I'm useless to this world."  
  
Zidane shakes his head defiantly.  
  
"No one's useless...Uou helped us escape, Remember?"  
  
"......"  
  
Kuja looked up into the small light protruding through an unknown hole in the Lifa tree, sighing slightly.  
  
"After you guys beat me, I had nothing left...nothing more to lose. Then, I finally realized what it means to live..." Kuja chuckled again, bitterly. "I guess I was too late."  
  
Zidane shook his head, holding his forehead in regret. "Kuja, you werent too late. Thanks to you, Dagger and the others are safe and alive. Thanks to you, Mist no longer flows in Gaia, Peace will return to Gaia. People will live life, without fear."  
  
Kuja shook his head slowly, grimacing.  
  
"N-No...That was your doing. I nearly destroyed the world, Nearly destroyed life...If you hadnt stopped me, I would have ended everything..." Zidane gripped his hands into fists, hitting the earth below him angrily.  
  
"Kuja, it was Our doing. You defied your fate, because of that we are free to live life the way we wish. No matter how you did, What matters is that you did. Dont forget it."  
  
"....."  
  
Kuja turns his head, his eyes shutting and unmoving. Zidane jumps to his feet, looking down at him.  
  
"!!!?!" Zidane shakes his head "Hey! Don't you do dying on me, alright!?"  
  
Suddenly, the Roots burst through the top of the tree, shooting down at them. Zidane looked up, then back down at his 'Brother', he covered him with his body as the Vines finally reached them. Everything went white.  
  
~  
  
"Zidane...."  
  
"Kuja?"  
  
"Zidane....Fly home to your canary..Enjoy life and treasure it, For there will allways be those who would try to take it from you."  
  
"Kuja...."  
  
"Zidane...Live your life without fear, without regret and without Bitterness..Life your life the way I never could..."  
  
"Kuja, Im sorry."  
  
"....Dont be. Garland created me to be Gaia's Angel of Death...But...Like you, I changed my fate...I became my own...Now, Go and find your Queen, shes waiting for you.."  
  
~  
  
Zidane awoke with a start, drenched in a thick sweat, his own. The memory never left him, No matter how hard he tried, He allways remembered. Every day, Every night, Even in his dreams, The memory came back to front. He looked at his surroundings, His bedroom....He sighed, putting a hand to his forehead. He allways expected to wake somewhere else, he still didnt understand why. The room was dark, the Moonlight slipping through the only window, dimly, partially illuminating that side of the room, but leaving the rest as Black as the scales of a Grand Dragon. He rose from his bed, turning over and rolling out of room. His tail swung back and forth irritably, He sighed, feeling the same. He took his Dark blue vest from where it hung, over a chair, slipping it on, but leaving it unbuttoned over his bare chest. He walked to the single window of his Quarters in Alexandria castle, Looking out of the window, At the two full moons in the sky, One blue, One red. The moons reminded him so much of Terra, The planet where he was born...And the planet he was raised and still lived, Gaia. Terra no longer existed, Only Gaia, which brought a slight smirk to his features. In a strange way, Gaia had somewhat Assimilated Terra, not the other way around as Garland had planned. The Genomes lived among the Humans, Co-existing instead of Subjdigating.  
  
"I bet you never saw this coming, Garland. You created Genomes, one of which Created the Black Mages. Both made to destroy, Both now live peacefull, on Gaia, with Human beings."  
  
He shook his head again, He let his mind wander to the past too often lately. Perhaps It was because he did so little compared to the past. No longer the Adventurer, The Thief or the Tantalus member. Now just a Queens boyfriend, A Legend in the eyes of the people. 'The Easy life' Blank had called it, He was somewhat right. He didnt have to fight to eat anymore, Didnt have to witness Death all the time. This was a load off of his back, he had to admit. But sometimes, Just sometimes, He wondered what he could be doing now, instead of lounging around this Castle all day, or Bickering with Steiner, Or appearing with Dagger in meetings or Presentations. He was just a figureine, he knew. He was tolerated by the Nobles and the Politicians simply because he was the Queens Boyfriend, not because he knew anything. "Heh...Kuja, Im not living the life you wanted...I'm living the life you hated." He muttered under his breath. Ironic, he thought. Life was so Ironic sometimes, It made him laugh. But then, The Latter problem was just a result, he supposed. A result of being in Love with a Queen. He smiled, running a hand through his slightly longer hair. He had decided to let it grow over the Years, thinning it out every now and then. Wouldnt want to start looking like a smaller Amarant, thats for sure. He saw the moons lowering lightly, as the sky was filled with a small red aura. He smiled again, Allmost Dawn.  
  
"In that case, I'll go wake 'Her Majesty.'" He chuckled, turned around and headed towards the Door, opening it and stepping out. 


End file.
